ChemFinity raises $7M for critical mineral recovery technology

ChemFinity Technologies, a Brooklyn, New York-based company spun off from research performed at the University of California, Berkeley, laboratory of Professor Jeffrey Long and focused on critical mineral recovery, has raised an oversubscribed $7 million seed round.

The fundraise was co-led by At One Ventures and Overture Ventures, with participation from Closed Loop Ventures Group, Pace Ventures, WovenEarth Ventures and Climate Capital.

ChemFinity says the funds will accelerate its piloting efforts and scale deployment of its sorbent-based technology, which it claims can selectively recover more than 20 targeted minerals from “complex waste streams” at low cost.

According to ChemFinity, more than 80 percent of critical minerals essential to U.S. industries such as defense, manufacturing and energy are imported, and the escalating demand for critical minerals also is joined by declining ore quality, higher processing costs in primary sourcing and stricter environmental regulations. ChemFinity says its refining systems meet this need by providing low-cost, energy-efficient and modular recovery processes that are tunable and durable across a wide range of domestic feedstocks.

“In a world increasingly dependent on critical minerals, the ability to extract and refine them domestically, cleanly and affordably is paramount,” ChemFinity co-founder and CEO Dr. Adam Uliana says. “Our platform addresses one of the most difficult bottlenecks in both national security and the energy transition: reliable, local access to high-purity critical minerals, all while dramatically lowering the cost and environmental footprint of recovery.”

The startup, which began in 2022, says it has invented sorbents that offer “record-breaking” recovery efficiencies and exceptional durability, including in hydrometallurgical conditions. The sorbents are engineered with atomically tunable pore structures for precision separations and have been validated for selective capture to target metals from low-grade, highly complex mixtures. Minerals that can be recovered include platinum group metals (PGMs), rare earth elements and base metals such as copper.

The company's systems are based on its proprietary sorbent filters that “look and operate like metal-selective Brita Filters,” and within those filters are novel, tunable materials the company has created to act like “nano-sponges” that soak up only targeted metals from mixtures.

“Because our sorbents are so selective, our systems can recover pure metals from waste and mining feedstocks using only two core refining steps conducted at or around room temperature,” ChemFinity says, adding that those steps are leaching—dissolving the solid feedstocks into a processable liquid—and sorbent filter separations.

“With support from this seed round, we’re scaling production, expanding our team and deploying pilot systems to recover high-value metals that would otherwise be lost,” says Dr. Ever Velasquez, ChemFinity’s co-founder and chief technology officer. “Our systems are designed to integrate readily into existing infrastructure, and we look forward to expanding deployment with other industrial leaders who share our mission of onshoring a circular minerals supply chain.”

Citing the aid of Breakthrough Energy Fellows and nondilutive grants from more than 10 U.S. agencies, ChemFinity claims it already has scaled up its technology from lab beakers to pilot reactors. The company says it has engaged in projects with “leading recyclers and refiners” to produce high-purity metals from domestic scrap, such as catalytic converters, mining feedstocks, spent solar panels and wastewater.

“With their high selectivity and fast reaction kinetics, ChemFinity’s engineered sorbents extract critical metals orders of magnitude faster than conventional methods, achieving market-grade purity with minimal energy and water use,” says Helen Lin, partner at At One Ventures. “This can unlock exciting new value streams and is a true step-change in metal circularity.”

ChemFinity says it will be hiring for key roles in Brooklyn.

“ChemFinity reenables domestic refining of metals critical to the national interest,” says Allison Hinckley, senior principal at Overture Ventures. “Their process features a dramatically smaller chemical and energetic footprint than global incumbents, resulting in superior economics.”